TwitchCon 2018: Everything you need to know before it starts

With only a couple of weeks left before TwitchCon starts, the full list of events has officially been released from our friends over at Twitch. Here’s everything you need to know ranging from esports tournaments, sponsors, exhibitors and plenty more.

On Oct. 26 through Oct. 28, 2018, Twitch fans around the world will be gathering at TwitchCon 2018 in San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California to celebrate everything gaming. To kick things off, the social video service Twitch has revealed their list of initial exhibitors, sponsors, competitive events, and plenty more that will be taking place over the course of the two-daylong event.

During the event attendee’s will see more marquee brands than ever before taking part in the celebration of the Twitch community. Fans will get to take to experiencing an entire hall dedicated to Epic Games’ Fortnite will checking out games from both indie and AA publishers and developers, while also having a chance to cheer on their favorite players during the highly anticipated large-scale competitions for games such as Fortnite, PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS, and the newly released Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

Along with the tournaments, attendees will get to try out new interactive activations, activities, and community events that will be going on throughout the show including cosplay, charity, and panels, “TwitchCon 2018 attendees are in for a great time. It will be a true reflection of the community’s passions, from gaming and cosplay to charity events, inspiring panels and talks, meet-&-greets, and a show floor full of exciting, interactive experiences and activations,” said Kate Jhaveri, CMO, Twitch. “Gaming has become part of mainstream pop culture and we see that reflected in the number of marquee and non-gaming brands participating this year.”

Want to know who’s making TwitchCon 2018 possible? All the sponsors who will be attending and helping bring the event to life. Please note that all information below is cited directly from our friends at Twitch’s PR team:

Kakao Games – TwitchCon 2018’s Diamond sponsor will be showcasing Black Desert Online’s brand new expansion, Drieghan, which will be playable on 46 high-end Alienware PCs. Drieghan will feature a large mountainous area, over 300 challenging quests, fresh nodes to conquer and a new menacing dragon boss called Garmoth. It’s set for release on November 14th as a free update with TwitchCon visitors being treated to an advance look that includes never-before-seen content.

Legion, by Lenovo – Stylish on the outside and savage on the inside. With unmatched performance and modern designs, Lenovo Legion PCs are forged to deliver true gaming power directly into your hands. Stop by TwitchCon 2018’s Platinum sponsor booth #315 for a chance to win great prizes, get hands-on experience with their products, and a few surprises all weekend.

Level up TwitchCon with Twitch Prime – Twitch Prime members unlock exclusive perks, including a $10 credit and free Twitch tote bag at The Loot Cave (TwitchCon’s merch store) and access to the Twitch Prime Lounge which will host special meet-and-greet events with broadcasters, and more!

Intel Streamer Zone – Game + Record + Stream without compromise. The Intel Streamer Zone, which has become a staple at Twitch events around the world, will host 72 streamers all weekend long for more than 108 hours of content. Full schedule coming soon.

Along with the official list of sponsors above, there’s also quite a bit of esports and challenge-based fun going on during the event. You can check out the list of events down below:

Broadcaster Royale: Omen Challenge – The biggest PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS streamers go head-to-head in this new style of tournament presented by OMEN by HP and Intel desktops and displays. Playing on OMEN by HP desktops and displays, streamers must survive against the competition and a gauntlet of OMEN challenges that require players to embrace risky strategies to win a piece of the $300,000 prize. The event takes place live across the street from the convention center at the City National Civic Theater, beginning at 1:30pm on October 26, 2018. For more details check out broadcasterroyale.com.

Fortnite Fall Skirmish – Grand Final – On September 21st, Epic Games kicked off a six week Fortnite Fall Skirmish series with a fun new club-based format. Over the course of the series, some of the world’s top Fortnite players and influencers will compete against each other for a $10 million prize pool. The Grand Final will take place over three days at TwitchCon with an open and invitational tournament to determine the Fall Skirmish champions, while fans from home can watch online at twitch.tv/FortniteGame.

This year is also set to be one of the biggest years in the history of TwitchCon as more than 140 exhibitors have signed up to take part in TwitchCon 2018. You can find the full list at TwitchCon.com. You can also view a portion of the exhibitors for this year down below ranging from Sony’s PlayStation brand, SEGA, our friends at Bethesda, and plenty more:

Fortnite Hall – Fortnite is landing at TwitchCon 2018 this year and bringing tons of fun activities for solos and squads. Find them at the South Hall and stop by for frights, delights and fun surprises or check out the Fortnite Fall Skirmish Grand Finals.

Bethesda – Team Bethesda will be on the TwitchCon show floor for the very first time, where the team will be hosting multiple live-streamed events with the Bethesda community team and some of your favorite streamers. Games being highlighted include the upcoming Fallout 76, The Elder Scrolls Online, Quake Champions, and The Elder Scrolls Legends. Be sure to follow twitch.tv/Bethesda to catch all the action!

Sony Interactive Entertainment / PlayStation® – PlayStation is heading to TwitchCon 2018 with the Road to Greatness truck – a new and improved gaming rig outfitted with PlayStation®4 Pro gaming stations and PlayStation®VR demos. Attendees can stop by to go hands-on with unreleased games and compete for their chance to win prizes, swag, and more.

SEGA / CREATIVE ASSEMBLY – SEGA® and Creative Assembly™ are coming to TwitchCon 2018 with the latest playable demos of Total War™: WARHAMMER II and Total War™: THREE KINGDOMS, including weekend-long live gameplay demonstrations of the latest content for the Total War™ series featuring the Creative Assembly team and your favorite streamers. Stay tuned to the official SEGA and Total War twitter accounts for TwitchCon updates.

Magic & Dungeons & Dragons – Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons join forces to bring two of the biggest fantasy games together for the first time ever at TwitchCon. Play Magic: The Gathering Arena at demo stations or stream to one’s own Twitch channel onsite. Attendees and viewers alike can also watch Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons events live from the TwitchCon booth and on the D&D and Magic Twitch channels all weekend.

World of Tanks PC – Visitors to the World of Tanks booth will be able to indulge in heart-pounding online tank combat, meet with famed streamers, and get hands-on with their favorite game in AR. In addition, a real M60A1 US tank will greet all TwitchCon guests right at the entrance to the convention center.

Omen by HP – Located at the City National Civic Theater, attendees will be able to play PUBG to win prizes, as well as test out their latest PCs and accessories, such as the thin bezel OMEN 15 Laptop with GeForce® GTX graphics, the powerful new OMEN Obelisk Desktop with up to GeForce RTX™ graphics, the optical-mechanical switch OMEN Sequencer Keyboard and OMEN Reactor Mouse, with the just-released OMEN Mindframe Headset – the world’s first headset to have active cooling by way of their FrostCap technology. The booth’s shop will also feature the first ever drop of OMEN apparel!

Nerf Nation Experience – The ultimate Nerf experience is coming to TwitchCon! In the South Hall attendees can get hands-on and battle with the latest Nerf Elite, Rival and Laser Ops Pro blasters IRL. There will also be plenty of photo opps so bring a camera along with your squad.

GUESS?, Inc. – Level up your style and drop by the GUESS Arcade to pick up limited edition GUESS Gaming apparel, only available during TwitchCon. Explore their throwback retro arcade and win prizes from GUESS, Tetris, and more. Meet your favorite streamers with several surprise appearances by the world’s biggest gamers. For streamers, sign up at booth #321 to be a part of GUESS Gaming for an exclusive loot box membership.

Hershey’s – Hershey’s Milk Chocolate and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups will be teaming up for a special announcement at their first-ever interactive booth at TwitchCon. Two well-known gamers, Ninja and DrLupo, will be making an appearance Saturday for their fans and there will be a special sweet prize for those partaking in the photo booth portion.

Nissin – It’s all fun and games until Nissin breaks out the noodles…then it gets seriously fun! Stop by the Nissin Cup Noodles booth to try the new delicious Cup Noodles Very Veggie and take away a sample – a great snack to fuel attendees’ TwitchCon experience. Make sure to snap a selfie in their photo booth too!

Along with all the exhibitors, tournaments, and events above, there’s also a lot to do when you aren’t streaming or checking out the sites to be had. Including the ability to check out some amazing indie titles over at the Indie Ally, the Steam Workshop, Charity Plaza by Tiltify or the City National Civic Theater where you can grab some awesome swag. You can check out the list of extra fun to be had down below:

Indie Ally – As one of TwitchCon’s most popular areas every year, the Indie Zone is sure to surprise and delight attendees with something new and fun to play. Stop by to meet the developers and show support to Toynk.com, The Stonebot Studio, Motion Twin, Kitfox Games, Trigono, Grunka Munka Games, Exato Game Studios, Holospark, and Everland.

Streamer Workshop – With thousands of streamers registered for the show, TwitchCon continues to focus on educating them on how to optimize their channels for success with a special area on the show floor. This includes demos of relevant products and services from brands such as Blue Microphones, BoomTV, Game ON, Gear on Amazon, Intel, LiveU, Morgan Stanley, Noiz, Stream Elements, Stream Labs, Skype,TC HELICON, Tobii, and Vreal.

Charity Plaza, Presented by Tiltify – This year’s plaza will not only feature more than 10 charities that have been supported by Twitch broadcasters over the past year, but it will also feature the return of the highly anticipated TwitchCon Charity Decathlon. Stop by to show your support or watch it on Twitch here. For information on participating charities and more, visit the TwitchCon blog.

City National Civic Theater – Beyond cheering on their favorite streamer in the Broadcaster Royale: Omen Challenge presented by OMEN by HP and Intel, fans can get free PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS merch, rub elbows at the bar with their favorite PUBG partners, play the game at the HP OMEN booth, and battle friends in fun live activities, all while jamming out to a live DJ.

Don’t forget, there is more than just the ones listed above as you can check out the Table Top room, TwitchUnity Lounge, the Artist Alley, Arcade, Kappa Cabana, and a wide array of events taking place in the Glitch Theater. Don’t forget, there’s a lot more information you can dive into by visiting the links from our friends at Twitch down below.

TwitchCon 2018 is taking place October 26-28 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California with more details at www.twitchcon.com.

About the Writer(s):

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the borders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter or Facebook.